Ghostwriter, Paranormal AI-Powered Typewriter That Communicates With You

On Wednesday, an engineer and designer by the name of Arvind Sanjeev described how he developed Ghostwriter, a unique repurposed Brother typewriter that uses AI to converse with a person typing on the keyboard. The huge language model used to power ChatGPT, OpenAI's GPT-3, is where the "ghost" inside the system originates. The result looks like a phantom speaking via the device. Sanjeev pulled apart an electric Brother AX-325 typewriter from the 1990s, reverse-engineered its keyboard signals, and then ran those signals through an Arduino, a low-cost microcontroller that is well-liked by hobbyists, to develop Ghostwriter. The Raspberry Pi serves as a network interface for OpenAI's GPT-3 API, and the Arduino then transmits signals to it. The GPT-3 AI large language model, which was trained on countless books and websites, makes statistical predictions about which word will appear most frequently after being given a cue, which can include text that the user types on Ghostwriter's keyboard. GPT-3 can complete whatever text you provide it, including helping with writing assignments or creating poetry, depending on the input. It can even act like a chatbot. [caption id="attachment_72385" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Ghostwriter[/caption] Sanjeev added two knobs and an OLED status screen right above the keyboard after realizing he needed a mechanism to regulate the machine's creative "temperature" and response time. Sanjeev also dramatically repainted the machine in shades of gray, cream, and orange. Ghostwriter has been in the works for months, although Sanjeev only first teased it on December 1. Sanjeev explained on Twitter that the inspiration for Ghostwriter came from Rob Sloan's sci-fi writer, but that it was challenging to fit it in around his full-time job at @Lumen world. As a result, he has been quietly working on it on the weekends. Sanjeev wants Ghostwriter to make a point about how people and AI interact. It is both an art piece and an artisanal hack.

I took apart my old typewriter and powered it using @OpenAI GPT-3. Meet: Ghostwriter, an #AI creative writing companion that lets you co-write stories on paper with #ArtificialIntelligence ? + ?. pic.twitter.com/t8rP9AW51q

— Arvind Sanjeev (@ArvindSanjeev) December 1, 2022

Sanjeev stated, "I wanted to make a thoughtful intervention that allows you to stop, breathe, and think about the new creative relationship we are building with machines. We are taken on an emotional trip through paper and ink by the peaceful, contemplative interface of a classic typewriter, which eliminates any digital distractions. Visit Sanjeev's complete development thread on Twitter, which includes videos that describe the building process, for more details about how he created Ghostwriter.